Legio Custodes: Project Update

Just a quick post here!
The Custodian Body Image problem has been solved! A big  thanks to Scibors miniatures for going ahead and producing some torsos, so i don't have to improvise!! These guys are fantastic sculpts are are going to make perfect Custodians!

Here's a guy some arms and shoulder pads on:

So I'm just waiting for a few more bits in the post (possibly another week or two) and then i get to the really hard part; painting the test mini! You see, these guys are going to be painted in Non Metallic Metal, and as I've never done it before, its gonna take some perfecting! Nothing but the best for the Emperors finest!

Elysian Drop Sentinel Squadron 2 Complete

This now concludes the construction of the 141st Elysian Drop Troop Regiment "Helljumpers"! This 1750pt army only took me a mere 4 months to complete, but I'm sure it could have been sooner if Forgeworld wasn't so expensive! So here they are:

Sentinel "Herak" Armed with Multi Melta:

I love this base, having the sentinel stalking through a breached perimeter fence! Thought the smoldering edges of the melta'd fence were a nice touch!

Sentinel "Montu" armed with Heavy Bolter:

I'm interested in expanding this army further to make it a reasonable sized Apocalypse force, prahaps adding some Tauros and a few more squads in Valkyries! In the next post i'll get some shots of the current army together!

Next on the to-do list is Tyranids. This 'Nid fest has been sitting in the cabinet, almost complete, for about 6 months now and its time to get it squared away so i can start thinking about my Dark Eldar again (sigh, so much to do!!)

New Years Resolution No:1 ; Elysian Sentinels WIP

New Years Resolution No:1 - Take Better Pictures!

While i was taking pictures for my last post, i saw that the quality of my pictures was slipping, despite using an SLR. Recently I'd  noticed a few articles on the blogs about building light boxes and the associated benefits of them, so last night i decided to give it a go!

Here it is in all its glory! I went for a big box so, if necessary, i could snap whole army's in it! Two lamps at the sides and one on the top.

So for this little experiment i enlisted Mrs GunGrave's help, as shes an avid photographer! We took a few snaps of some models that i chose randomly out of the display cabinets and here are the results:

Elysian Sentinel:

Death Korps of Krieg Squad:

Space Marine Terminator Chaplin:

Tyranid Hive Tyrant:

WOW is all i can say! I cant believe the improvement that this makes to the pics (well i can believe it but never thought that i could achieve it!) I believe that these pics were taken using something called a Macro Setting (or lens) for detailed picture taking, and also using a tripod. Storage for this thing in my study/Forge/Warhammer Room may be a problem though! I'm currently trying to persuade Mrs GunGrave to let me buy some new office furniture, so if this is successful and i manage to find £300 from somewhere, it should create the space for me to have this set up permanently. SWEET!

Onto other things; i cracked on with the remaining two Elysian Sentinels which are nearly ready for painting. The first one here is prowling through a breached perimeter fence. I'm gonna try and paint the edges of the fence to look like they've just been blasted by the Multi Melta!

The second one is not nearly as interesting, because i simply ran out of ideas for the base! So i coped out and chucked a bit of barbed wire and a sign on it and left it at that. I'm gonna try and squeeze one of the Death Korps sector marking transfers onto the sign, but aside from that this Sentinel doesn't get much more interesting!

So the Elysians are nearly complete! They've been an awesome army to collect and even more fun to play! With nearly everything outflanking, not even i know whats gonna happen in the game! Once the Sentinels are done, I'll get some group shots organised!



Death Korps of Krieg Repaint - Squad and Demolisher Done

I've finally got a few days off now and I've waisted no time in cracking on with the Krieg repaint! So today i got the first squad completed.

Once this was done, i quickly started to wonder about the colour schemes of the artillery and armour!! So i picked out a matching scheme from IA: Siege of Vraks Pt1 and slapped it onto a Demolisher! The usual weathering was also applied.

Just in case you cant remember what the last colour scheme was, here's a comparison photo:

I feel like I've just bought a whole new Krieg army and I'm painting it for the first time (though without the huge credit card bill!) Unfortunately this means that other projects have been severely neglected, mostly my Dark Eldar, which is currently only one squad strong! I guess I'm easily distracted!

In an effort to break my Krieg Fever, i made a start on the last two Drop Sentinels for the Elysians and I hope to have a few WIP pics of that tomorrow.

The Great Death Korps of Kreig Repaint Continues!

Well I've been hampered by work once again in my attempts to progress with the re-paint, but did make some headway on the first squad while Mrs Gungrave was out this evening! The more i do the more i believe i made the right decision about this repaint! As it stands i have most of the basic colours on, just the washes and highlights to go.

In an effort to save time on this project i visited my old mate The Army Painter and picked up a tin of their Uniform Grey. Its pretty much Codex Grey in a can, ideal for the greatcoats of the Krieg.

I have a few days off coming up and Mrs Grave is off for a girly weekend, no doubt pillow fighting in pajamas for two days solid if my imagination is anything to go by! So, wandering imaginations aside, I'll get another squad or two repainted by the end of the week. I may also start on that awesome Dark Eldar Archon i bought a while back, we'll see.

Laters

Death Korps of Krieg: A New Look for 2011!

Well after a nice 'Implausable Virgin Birth Celebration Day' (as me and my brother like to call it!) I've returned home to a desk full of hobby projects and no effort to get on with them! My mates Khorne army is still sitting there, those 2 buildings, the Custodian project, and no further purchases have been made for the Dark Eldar. The only thing i have done is order the final 2 Elysian Drop Sentinels (as neither of them turned up in my Christmas stocking! DAM YOU 'CLAWS!)

SOOO, as i was sitting in my Forge today trying to summon the will to paint, my gaze fell to my beloved Death Korps army in their dedicated display cabinet. As i stared at them for inspiration, i saw that they just didn't match up to my more recent Guard paint jobs; the Elysians, the Vostroyans, both army's are stunning in their own way with paint jobs that do the models justice (if i do say so myself, ahem....) So i began cruising the net to see if i could find a scheme, and it didn't take me long to find a suitable one! I quickly set about doing a test mini and here it is!

To be honest i much prefer this paint scheme to the original! The additional colours make the model pop a bit more! I like it so much I've started painting up the rest of the squad already! I was kinda hoping that i wouldn't like it, which would mean that i wouldn't want to paint 120 Kriegsmen in a new scheme along with all the accompanying armour and artillery!! I'm trying to think of it as painting a new army without having to buy one (which is a good job to considering how much this lot cost!)

Here's a comparison to the current scheme:

So what do you think?? I'm really enthusiastic about this idea, and I'm hoping that it'll breathe a bit of life back into the Krieg!

On another note, the Legio Custodes project! Well, i haven't made any further attempts to sort out the torso-sculpting problem, but i have bought some torsos off of Scibors miniatures that might help (picture used without permission, but I'm sure they wont mind!):

Im hoping that these can provide me with a batter shape on which to base my conversion. I also love the rotors on the backs, very pre-heresy i thought! I'll get rid of the Spartan iconography on the belt and replace it with something more suitable. The pecks, well, ill decide what to do with them once Ive done a mock up. I may smooth them out with putty and sculpt on some detail or i may keep it! Once they arrive things can get moving again!

So that's it for now! Watch this space for more Krieggy goodness with a sprinkling of Custodian (hopefully!)

Laters

Legio Custodes - Prototype 1

Well the first prototype is done. Now this is just a mock up to see how all the parts fit together, and not Representative of the final product!

So i think that I've successfully addressed the Dwarf Marine Syndrome! This marine is the one where i inserted the spacers between the shin sections. I've done a size comparison here, and you can see that the Custodian is a little taller (partly due to the helmet, but meh!)

 However I've identified another problem, and that's the torso. In principle the idea was sound, using a simple plasicard template to add to basic marine torso. But as you can probably see, in practice it just isn't right. I think that is a bit wide at the waist and needs to be a little tighter in that area. I'll have to go back to the drawing board on this one.

The tabard and the cape were made using this nifty stuff i found on eBay called Re-mouldable Plastic. It comes in granules and I've had this large bag for about a year now, so it goes a long way! Chuck a few granules in boiling water, wait until the granules turn clear, then remove from the water and mash them all together! You can make it into whatever you want, and if you mess it up, put it back in boiling water and start again! Fully recommended. Anyways, the cape and tabard are cool little additions and they also help to cover up any conversion mishaps that occurred along the way!

The arms are standard marine arms, the only change being to the right had which was rotated to hold the Guardian Spear. The left one will hold the shield. There was no real problems with them, just some minor positional issues but nothing major.

So, one problem solved, and another created! I'm really struggling to get the torso right, so any ideas you guys have would be greatly appreciated! I'll persist in the meantime and hope an answer presents itself. Now onto the second prototype!

Laters